


The Master Plan

by cheshireree (shyfoxes)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Conspiring Together, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Getting Together, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, Lance and Allura are siblings, Matchmaking, Mutual Pining, Younger Siblings Being Little Shits, this is embarrassing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-09-08 02:25:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8826760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shyfoxes/pseuds/cheshireree
Summary: When Lance and Keith fight, their older siblings are always called in. Only, there seems to be a spark between them, but neither will make a move. So Lance come up with a Master Plan and enlists Keith's help. Or, Lance and Keith conspire to get Allura and Shiro together, with some minor risk to their education maybe.





	

Lance could feel a chill settling over him as he looked at his hands clasped together in his lap. Next to him he could feel Keith stiffen, too, a sense of gloom falling over the both of them. They shared a mutual glance of despair before looking up at their principle. 

"Your older siblings are on their way now," Iverson said testily. "I'm honestly getting quite sick of seeing the two of you in my office." 

Keith grimaced. Lance himself couldn't help gulping, trying to shoot a wry, goofy grin at Iverson.  

"It wasn't that bad this time, sir," Lance reasoned. "Did you really need to call them?" 

Iverson narrowed his lone eye. He raised the piece of the destroyed globe that had gotten into the crossfire of their argument and let it drop to his desk with a loud clatter. Lance shut his mouth after that. 

A tense twenty minutes passed in complete silence as Iverson went back to his paperwork, and Lance and Keith sat in frozen silence in front of his desk. When Lance shift, Iverson glared at him and he went back into position. Keith was simmering next to him, but silent. 

A faint knocking at the door finally interrupted them. Iverson called them in. 

Lance felt his soul leave his body, the dark, pretty face of his older sister morphing from genuine apology at Iverson to a promise of demise as her eyes landed on Lance. Behind her Keith's older brother was glaring at his own brother, mouth twisted in what Lance would have categorized as a "I Am Very Disappointed In You" frown.  

Iverson sighed and rose to his feet and motioning to the empty seats he had brought in next to each boy. 

"Please have a seat," He said. He sat back down and folded his hands together.  

Allura laid a hand to Lance's shoulder as she sat; Lance stiffened. Shiro only stared at his brother as he took his own seat. Keith fidgeted. 

"What have they done this time?" Shiro said, exasperated. 

- 

"I have half a mind to send you to live back with mom and dad,"Allura said. She walked briskly out of the main doors, Lance slinking behind her.  

Not far behind Keith was getting chewed out by Shiro. Lance winced as Allura rounded on him. She pointed a finger in his face, scowling.  

"Do you ever learn? What do you two even fight about so badly that you end up causing this many disruptions?" 

"Nothing," Lance muttered. "We just get really excited, you know? He believes in cryptids, 'Lura, but not _aliens_. Can you believe it?" 

Allura opened her mouth to respond - "Because there's way more evidence to prove cryptids exist, you turd!" 

"There is not!" 

"Yes -" 

"Keith," Shiro cut in.  

He shoved his brother by the shoulder and came to stand next to Allura. Shiro rubbed the back of his neck, looking down and away before he addressed Allura properly Lance's eyebrow raised, watching his sister folding her hands demurely in front of her, lips turning inward nervously before she was smiling so softly at Shiro. Lance's eyes bugged, dots connecting but waiting. 

"We always end up meeting like this, it seems," Shiro muttered.  

"It seems so," Allura agreed. "It's all Lance's fault I'm sure." 

"Hey!" 

Shiro waved a hand. "No, I'm sure Keith is to blame, too. He's impulsive like that." 

"Wait a sec -" 

"What can we do, right?" Shiro continued. "It was, uh, nice seeing you, though. As – as always." 

"You, too," Allura replied.  She hesitated, "As always." 

Allura bit her lip, hand tightening on her phone like she wanted to call attention to it. Shiro's eyes flickered down like he wanted her to. Looking between the two of them Lance cleared his throat and touched Allura's arm. 

"We should get going, Lura," He said, eyeing Shiro.  

Behind him Keith did the same, brows furrowing. Allura frowned for a brief moment, a dip in her eyebrows before it was gone and she was turning with him towards the direction of her car. Keith shouldered at his brother telling him they should move out, too. When Lance looked over his shoulder, Shiro's eyes were still following Allura. He glanced at Keith and began letting the gears in his head turn faster. 

- 

"I need your help, Mullet," Lance said. "This is the most important mission out there. Even more important than your weird mothman obsession." 

Tuesday and Thursdays meant Hunk and Pidge had a different lunch period. That left Keith and Lance together, which was perfect in and of itself for The Masterplan. 

"So you admit there is a mothman?" Keith quipped. 

"Not in the slightest. Now, a lizardman I can believe in. Even a whole army of underground lizardmen," Lance said. 

Keith wrinkled his nose, "I can't deny you that. Actually -" 

"Stop getting me off subject! What was I saying? Oh, right. I need your help. This is the most important mission ever. Get that?" 

"Yeah, got it," Keith said, messing biting into a chilli dog. Lance shoved a napkin at him with a grimace. 

"Right, so my sister has this huge gross crush on your brother," Lance said.  

Keith's brows hit his hairline for a moment before he was taking another bite. He wiped his mouth before speaking again. Lance was secretly thankful. 

"Dude, really? Shiro thinks she's cute," Keith said. "He didn't mean to let that slip to me, but there it is." 

Lance let a crooked smile spread on his face as he leaned over the table towards Keith. Keith leaned back with a frown, taking the last part of his chilli dog with him, eyeing it and Lance.  

"That's perfect. More than perfect, actually. Keith, my man, help me set them up?" 

Keith paused mid bite to look at Lance, brows drawn low over his eyes. He shot him a smug grin, one part conspiracy and one part shitty younger sibling. Keith held out a hand and Lance took it. They shook once.  

Lance pulled out a paper and passed it over to Keith. 

"How do you feel about getting in trouble some more and getting them in the same place?" Lance suggested. 

"Uneasy, considering Iverson is just a few ticks away from sending us to Coach Rolo for endless laps around the school. Interested, because I want to see Shiro combust in front of Allura," Keith replied. 

Lance rubbed his knuckles against his shirt and tilted his chin up, smirking. "It's settled then. We'll pretend to fight more for the good of our siblings." 

Keith snorted; "Like that will take any effort." 

- 

So maybe Lance misjudged Keith's sense of time. Lance had imagine they would first wait a bit before they started causing trouble again, give everyone a brief reprieve. But Keith wasn't called hot-headed for nothing, nor had he not single-handedly survived dodgeball during P.E. one day out of sheer vindication. He had taken the plan to mean _right now, that day, lickity-split._   

So, Lance had been in the middle of presenting his argument on the latest round of persuasive essays they were tasked with in English class – a damn good essay on Lance's part he thought – when Keith had stood up and announced that Lance was full of shit. 

Lance had briefly forgotten they were now acting and not actually getting into a fight like normal. His jaw dropped open in horror and outrage before he was slinging back that anyone with Keith's haircut should know about being full of shit. They erupted into a full-blown argument before being shoved out by Coran and into Iverson's office. Hunk and Pidge shot them suspicious looks, but Lance motioned that he'd explain later. 

As they walked side by side, Keith nudged Lance with his elbow, grinning.  

"That was pretty good, right? Was really convincing," He said. 

Lance sniffed. "A little _too_  convincing if you ask me." 

"God, don't tell me you actually got offended, man?" 

"Why not! You said I was full of shit, dude." 

"I always tell you that, what the hell?" 

Lance shrugged, opening the door for Keith who thanked him quietly. "Hey man, I just forgot for a sec okay? You know I used to take a lot of stuff between us personally. You're really smart, you know?" 

Keith paused as he was reaching for Iverson's door. He whispered, "You are, too, Lance, what the hell. You're like 7th in class. We're cool though, right?" 

Lance grinned "Yeah, we're definitely cool. All right, look grumpier, Mullet. We got two older siblings that need to be called in. Put on your best "Lance-sucks-but-clearly-not-really attitude." 

"You, too. Get all whiny like you usually do," Keith added. 

"I'm not whiny!" 

"There it is," Keith muttered, flinging open the door.  

Inside Iverson was already sighing and reaching for the phone. "Just shut up and sit down." 

- 

"And another thing!" Allura seethed. "I literally just spoke to you about this a day ago, Lance. A day! Don't think I wasn't serious about you going back home." 

"But Allura," Lance said, playing it up. "You really had to be there. Keith was horrible." He turned towards the brothers. "Shiro back me up!" 

"What the – Shiro, you can't back him up, _I'm_ your brother," Keith argued. 

Shiro pressed a hand to his face, sighing. He pinched the bridge of his nose before looking between the two of them. Lance could feel his disappointment radiating. It made him squirm unpleasantly. But the end results kept him grounded. 

"Don't you two get tired of this? I mean seriously. I thought you two were getting along since last year? We worked all this out. So what now?" 

Keith and Lance muttered under their breath. 

"Do you guys just enjoy doing this to me and Allura? She's busy. You both know this. She's got a lot on her plate." 

Unsaid was the yes to his question. 

Allura made a funny noise, tucking a hair behind her ear.  

"I hadn't realized you knew so much about my work, Shiro," Allura said.  

"Oh, well yeah. I remembered when we first met and you told me. I was really impressed. You're the reigning middle-weight kick-boxing champion," Shiro replied. 

"I – you remembered so far back?" Allura questioned. Lance watched a faint pink come to her cheeks. Beside them, Keith saw the same on Shiro's face. 

"Of course," he said clearing his throat. "I'm, uh, I'm really impressed by you. I followed that match you had with Sendak for weeks." 

Allura grinned triumphantly, "I'm flattered. He was a fan favorite, you know, when he challenged me. I didn't think I'd be received so well. It's nice to know I have admirers." 

"Yeah, you definitely do," Shiro said. He froze, backtrackin. "I – I mean, considering how much you've blown up since then. You're going to be representing Balmera soon, right?" 

"That's right!" Allura said, clapping her hands together.  

She looked so cute, bouncing on her heels and turning towards Shiro, a silent invitation. He stepped forward, both chatting eagerly as they walked on ahead. 

Keith fell into step with Lance. "So, mission success?" 

"This time. We still have to get them to actually ask each other out. Phase two, Mullet. We're not yet done." 

- 

Over the course of the next two weeks, Lance and Keith had gotten called into Iverson's office a total of nine times. Three of those nine were spent in detention, a minor setback. The next two were spent helping Coran grade his papers. The remaining four, Iverson had called Shiro and Allura. But now he was looking at them suspiciously. It didn't escape him that Lance and Keith weren't fighting when they sat next to each other anymore. If anything, the air between them was genuinely easy.  

In those infuriating four calls, Shiro and Allura still managed to strike out.  

They continued to dance around each other, a torturous orbiting that didn't seem to have an end. The looks, the clear intentions were so glaring. Shiro was brushing his fingers against Allura's hand more, stepping into her space. Time to time she would touch the tips of Shiro's prosthetic fingers and make him pause and relax. He would frequently bend to speak to her, softly, intimately but still full of teasing and unbidden sarcasm.  

It made Allura preen. More often than not she could let her own vicious grin out, a hot quip on her tongue. She addressed him with a more comfortable air, using his name with clear affection. She took less to scolding Lance and more to rooting out a reaction from Shiro. 

By the end of the four calls, Shiro had promised to take her for a spin in a rebuilt Camaro he and Keith had been working on and show her the bike Keith had built himself. Allura had promised him front row tickets to her next match. They had teased and joked about greater things, like mutually buying child leashes for their brothers, and how nice it would be to spar together one day, train together one on one. Allura's grin had been so slow and secretive, lashes dipped down that Shiro had audibly had his breath taken away. 

Lance elbowed keith, motioning to them. 

"Gross isn't it?" He murmured. 

"The worst. What's taking him so long?" Keith huffed. 

"Patience, Keithy, patience. Isn't that what Shiro always says?" 

"Yeah. Patience yields focus. Yeah. But it's driving me nuts. We might have to step in." 

"By all means then. I'll follow your lead." 

Keith approached the duo, rolling his shoulders and posting on a barely concealed annoyed expression. He rouched jostled Shiro with a frown. Allura paused, looking at him thoughtfully 

"Can we go now or what?" Keith muttered. 

Shiro frowned. "What's the rush, Keith? You owe us at least a few minutes to talk considering how much trouble you put us through. You don't know how many times I've had to apologize for you guys making us meet under these circumstances." 

Keith blinked owlishly. Lance got the the feeling that Keith had hooked him then and there. He watched, eyeing Allura. 

"Yeah, I'm sorry," Keith said, sincere. "These _are_ bad circumstances." 

He set a hand to Shiro's shoulder, a grin coming to his face that was making Shiro grow steadily alarmed. Lance had to hold down a laugh. Keith turned to Allura, brow cocked 

"Shiro should take you on a date for all the trouble. So that you guys have better circumstances to meet under," Keith said. 

Shiro began to sputter, prosthetic hand flying up to slap over Keith's mouth. Allura gasped and Shiro immediately tried to reign the situation into order. Lance could sense an apology about to surface and cut in. 

"Heck yeah! Allura accepts!" Lance cried.  

"Wait, what -" Allura began.

Allura was in the middle of protesting, reaching out to strangle her brother when Lance sidestepped. He nudged Allura forward until she accidentally stumbled and Shiro was releasing Keith to grab her by her elbows and steady her. Keith stepped aside and let Lance loop his arm through his to pull him along. 

"Well, we're going to show ourselves out, you guys. We actually wanted to meet Pidge and Hunk for a study session. All these fights have made us behind on our grades, you know." 

"Yeah," Keith agreed. "We really gotta catch up on them. Later, Shiro, text me when you get home." 

"And don't stay out long, you crazy kids!" Lance called, power walking away with Keith, until the both broke into a run. "Good luck! Do everything I would definitely do!" 

Then they were gone and Allura and Shiro were left in front of the school, watching where their brothers had disappeared to, and then awkwardly back at each other. 

Allura laid a hand to Shiro's chest, right on the patch that read his name – Shirogane- smudged a bit with oil and grease. Shiro's hands slid down to hold her hands, suddenly bashful. 

"You realize we've been played," He said. 

"I'm beginning to. He's craftier than I gave him credit for," Allura said. She looked up at him, squeezing their hands together.  

"Can't exactly let their efforts go in vain can we?" Allura said. 

"No, no we can't," Shiro agreed. He blew out air. "I had a half day today, actually, at the garage. So I'm free for the rest of the day." 

"Oh yeah? I'm off of training today, too." 

"I'd really like to clean up, but how does a coffee at Arusia sound? In an hour?"Shiro suggested, a slight nervousness edging into his voice. 

Allura made an amused sound. "Perfect. I'll see you then?" 

"Yeah. Yeah." 

Even when they walked each other back to their cars, they hadn't stopped holding hands. Shiro's thumb brushing the back of Allura's hand and Allura shot him a pleased, playful smile before finally pulling away and promising that there would be time for that and more in the days to come.

**Author's Note:**

> Allura is a middle-weight boxing champion, which was inspired by Audrey's big sister in Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Likewise, Shiro is a mechanic. Lance, Keith, Hunk and Pidge are in the 11th grade here. 
> 
> Originally this was going to be the premise for a shallurazine submission. But it morphed too out of control, especially word wise and I just figured I'd post it separately for fun. There's other shallura stuff i'm working on but this was just a silly thing I felt like doing.
> 
> Tell me what you think
> 
> original here--> http://cheshire-ree.tumblr.com/post/154374809533/the-master-plan


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